Is TV Done As We Know It?

Hastings recently said, “Linear TV has been on an amazing 50-year run. Internet TV is starting to grow. Clearly over the next 20 years Internet TV is going to replace linear TV. And so I think everyone is scrambling to figure out how do they do great apps, how do they things like “Noggin” which are fantastic. That will just keep getting built up and so it’s a transition into figuring out the Internet. And the way people do that is to get involved with us, with our competitors to try to start to learn what are the new patterns and modalities because Internet TV is the way that people will consume video in the future.”

With HBO being one of the major companies creating original TV programing, they have viewed Netflix as a direct threat, and have even come out with their own HBO GO app to help with those that prefer streaming.

The idea will soon be that, major cable companies will no longer package together a bunch of unwanted channels, but instead companies like HBO, ESPN, ABC, will have their own individual apps that you can buy for a monthly fee. Even if you pair together a few of them your cost would be substantially lower than that of your current cable bills, which can easily exceed $150 a month. Many do not even watch 80% of the channels they pay for, or simply do not have time to sit down for hours on end and watch television, so these types of a la carte channels would be highly appealing.

Hastings added this, “I think HBO at $15 is a great value. I mean I have traditionally paid more than $15 for my cable company for it. So I think they are doing great work with their premium content. It does create an obvious underline of just how great the value is of Netflix with prices ranging from $7.99 to $11.99. But we are really comfortable with that strategy. We are continuing to grow with this strategy and it is an incredible value. But I think we you should really think about it is all the Internet services HBO Now, Netflix and Hulu are great values in comparison to the big bundle.”

Sounds like great news for consumers, as there is finally some new innovation competition in the market to help drive down this crazy pricing scheme companies like Comcast and Direct TV have been getting away with for years.